


If Found...

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2019 [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Attraction, First Meetings, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 21:52:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17475635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for Money prompt:Any, Any/Any, Their meet-cute is over a lost walletIn which Rodney loses his wallet and finds it in an unexpected way.





	If Found...

“Oh, no!” Rodney patted himself down again, and then looked around on the floor. 

“What is wrong now?” Radek asked with a put-upon sigh.

“I can’t find my wallet!”

“Are we doing this again? I will just pay.”

Rodney ignored him. The wallet was really missing this time, and that was very bad because he’d just cashed the check from DynaSystems for the consult he did, which was not an inconsiderable sum.

When Radek came over with the bag of takeout, Rodney was on his hands and knees on the dirty, dirty floor, looking under the booth tables.

“You really lost it?”

“Would I be exposing myself to a staph infection otherwise?” Rodney snapped. “It’s not here.”

“When did you have it last?” Radek asked as Rodney got back to his feet and fished the little bottle of hand sanitizer out of his front pocket. “I paid for the coffee.”

Rodney thought back. He’d had his wallet when he left the house that morning, he was sure of that because his bus pass was in there. Radek had brought in the coffee, which meant it was Rodney’s turn to buy lunch. The only other stop he’d made was…

“The guy with the eyes!” he said, snapping his fingers. “That has to be it!”

Radek’s forehead furrowed. “What guy?”

“I went to the bakery for those cake pops for Miko’s birthday, and there was a guy in there. He was…He looked…”

How could Rodney adequately describe the man who’d been ahead of him in line? Tall and sexy, certainly. Lean but muscled, the kind of body type that Rodney associated with runners. Dark, rakish hair. Oddly elfish ears. But the eyes…a mix of gold and brown and green, commonly called hazel even though that was an incredibly insufficient descriptor.

“Did this man with eyes take your wallet?”

“What? No. I mean…I don’t think so. He distracted me. I could’ve dropped it or set it down or something.”

“So? Go check.”

The bakery was only two blocks away. Rodney looked at the bag in Radek’s hand, torn for a minute between retrieving his wallet and eating his lunch, but in the end he needed his money and his bus pass and his ID.

He didn’t even consider that the guy with the eyes might be there. Not really.

*o*o*o*

Rodney leaned against the wall in the elevator, exhausted and annoyed. The latest simulation at the lab hadn’t worked, which put the project back at least three weeks. And he hadn’t found his wallet at the bakery. In the morning he’d have to call and cancel his credit cards.

The elevator jerked to a stop and the doors shuddered open. If Rodney lived on a lower floor, he’d take the stairs, because it was all too easy to imagine that decrepit elevator getting stuck between floors. Or crashing down to the basement. On the other hand, he’d probably have a heart attack if he –

The guy with the eyes was sitting on the floor in front of Rodney’s door, eating pizza.

“Hello?”

The guy looked up and immediately choked on his mouthful of pizza. He tossed the remains of his slice on top of the pizza box next to him and got to his feet, coughing into his elbow.

“Hey,” he said when he got himself under control. “I, uh. I found your wallet.”

He pulled it from his coat pocket and held it out. Rodney stared at it, feeling as though his brain had a glitch. The handsome man from the bakery, who’d briefly made small talk with him while waiting in line, had tracked him down to his apartment. That wasn’t the sort of thing that happened in real life.

“Why didn’t you just leave it with the bakery?” Rodney asked. When the guy’s hopeful expression fell, Rodney gave himself a mental shake. “What I mean is…is…why did you bring it here? You didn’t have to go out of your way.”

The guy shrugged his narrow shoulders, still holding out the wallet. “Maybe I’m just a good Samaritan.”

Rodney wasn’t great at reading people, but the man standing in front of him seemed genuine enough. He grabbed his wallet and gave it a quick look-through to make sure everything was where it should have been. The cash was all there, and the credit cards. There was only one thing missing.

“Where’s my ID?”

He didn’t drive – living in a city that offered a variety of mass transit options made that unnecessary – but he wasn’t stupid enough to go around without having a photo ID, particularly since he wasn’t American by birth.

To Rodney’s surprise, the guy flushed and reached into the pocket of the black t-shirt he was wearing under his coat. He handed over the ID, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. Of course, that was how the guy had known where Rodney lived. But his reaction seemed to indicate something more. Almost as if…

“Wait. Are you here because you wanted to see _me_?”

The guy shrugged again. “Is that weird?”

“Maybe not for normal people, but it’s never happened to me before.” Rodney slid the ID back into his wallet. The smart thing to do would be to thank the guy, maybe give him some cash as a reward for returning Rodney’s things, and send him on his way. “Do you want to go get some coffee? There’s a really good place right down the street.”

The guy grinned, his beautiful eyes crinkling, and wow. There was no way a guy that gorgeous was interested in Rodney based on one brief interaction in a bakery. 

“Sounds great.”

Or maybe it was just Rodney’s lucky day. He decided he was willing to take a risk and find out.

“Bring the pizza,” he instructed, and led the way back to the elevator. No reason to waste perfectly good food. “Who are you, anyway?”

“John Sheppard. Pleased to meet you.”

Rodney was feeling pretty pleased himself and couldn’t stop the smug grin he knew was on his face as the elevator doors slid shut.


End file.
